THE NEW YORK Times is discovering new food. Last week they found out that sausage rolls were a thing, and today they’ve uncovered one of Ireland’s area of culinary excellence chocolate.
It’s a well-documented ‘fact’ that Irish chocolate is miles above chocolate available in the States, so it was about time someone investigated.
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The writer went to Dublin on the advice of a friend to find out what milk chocolate offerings were abound, owing its creaminess to our milk that is closer to cream-coloured than white and ‘rich and luscious’.
Butlers is first up, with the choice of chocolate described as limited, but delicious.
A few dark and white options peeked out, but the selection, including Irish cream truffle and toffee bars and hazelnut crunch, was overwhelmingly milk. Some might call them familiar and uninspiring. For me, they were the basics done well and refreshingly free of any fancy adulterations like spices or tea blends.
Then it was on to Skelligs, and in true Irish fashion, the chocolates were tasted in the back of owner Colm Healy’s car.
With iterations like a rose pistachio bar and strawberry-infused chips, his sweets veered more toward inventive than old-fashioned but still had an unmistakable velvety finish from milk powder added to the solid chocolate.
As for Colm himself, he said gave this excellent quote:
The Irish touch makes it smoother and more chocolately, just like Irish people, including me.
Next stop was Lily O’Briens. The signature “butter- and cream-laden sticky toffee milk chocolate piece was encased in a thick shell with a satisfying snap giving way to a gooey filling”.
The Truffle Fairy in Thomastown, where the truffles are described as “voluptuous, with a rich finish”, is put down to the Irish butter used in it.
New Dublin instalment Cocoa Atelier also impressed, with the milk chocolate ganache boldly capturing that “now-recognisable flavour of Irish dairy”.
But it was the simplest of all pleasures that was the biggest hit. The quality of Cadbury’s was declared a triumph.
I was taken by their incomparably creamy mouth-feel, capturing that heavy shot of lactose, and my intended sampling turned into full-on consumption.
Literally, us.
